Jamie Samuelsen's blog: Win or lose, Lions' game at Lambeau doesn't make their season

Oct. 2, 2013

Lions running back Joique Bell / Kirthmon F. Dozier/DFP

Written by

Jamie Samuelsen

Detroit Free Press Special Writer

Jamie Samuelsen, co-host of the “Jamie and Wojo” show at 6 p.m. weekdays on WXYT-FM (97.1), blogs for freep.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. You can reach him at jamsam22@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter @jamiesamuelsen and read more of his opinions at freep.com/jamie.

Does the Lions-Packers game carry any extra importance this weekend or not?

Excuses aren’t looked upon well in the NFL. People don’t care very much if your defense is banged up or if you’re the victim of a bad spot or if your receiver continually catches touchdown passes only to be told that he hasn’t “completed the process.”

Win your games and let the other team do the complaining.

Given that backdrop, it’s ludicrous for me to suggest the following — it’s just fine if the Lions lose to the Packers on Sunday. This game doesn’t have to define their season. All of the Lions goals remain out in front of them, even if they lose at Lambeau.

Preposterous? Not really.

Of course, a win would be huge. It would make the Lions 3-0 in the division and give them a 2 ½-game lead over the Packers (even bigger if you consider the tiebreaker). It would easily be the biggest win of Jim Schwartz’s head coaching career. The 22-game losing streak in Wisconsin would be over. And the team would move from being a frisky fast-starter to a legitimate contender for the NFC North title. So it’s a huge game in every way.

But if they lost, it doesn’t need to be a back-breaker, nor should it be.

The 2007 New England Patriots went 16-0 in the regular season. That’s historic. We occasionally get 15-1 seasons and more frequently get 14-2’s. But the bottom line is this. Good teams win on the road. Division champions win on the road. But they don’t win all of their games on the road. And they often lose in difficult venues like Green Bay, Wis.

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If the Lions lose Sunday, they’ll still be up on the Packers in the division. They’ll still have a winning record through three games against the NFC North. And there’s a good chance that they’ll still be tied for first with the Bears (who host the Saints Sunday.)

If this sounds like a free pass to the Lions, it’s not. The Lions have an outstanding chance to win this game even though Green Bay enters off a bye after a rather disheartening loss to the Bengals. If the Lions lose this game and make glaring mistakes, the critics will line up with pitchforks to tear the performance apart.

But just tread a little lightly. Through four weeks of the season, the debate in Detroit seems to be “is this team any good or not?” The Vikings game told us little. The Cardinals loss brought out the claims of S.O.L. (same old Lions). And the wins over the Redskins and Bears, both amazingly positive steps, have been dealt with a certain amount of restraint and caution. Lion fans have been burned hundreds (thousands?) of times in their lives. So they’ll be excused for a healthy dose of skepticism. They want to make sure that what they’re watching is real. And the game in Green Bay might be the final test of their mettle.

If the Lions win this game, this city will go a little bonkers. The Packers have been the barometer in the division for two decades and a win in Lambeau is far more significant than a win at the Metrodome or Soldier Field. I just want to make sure that if the Lions lose, people aren’t automatically assuming that the good feelings are gone, the run is over, and this team is doomed to repeat it’s ugly history of the past 13 years. There are many ways the game can go. And while a blowout would certainly be disheartening, it shouldn’t be some turning point in the season.

The Lions are in a pretty good spot after their hot start. A win Sunday would be huge. A loss doesn’t have to be. That’s not playing with house money, but it is playing with a margin for error. Some of you will read this and call it the loser’s mentality. I disagree. I’d call it the realist’s mentality. This is a long season. And it will take a long season to prove that the same old Lions are dead and gone, not just one Sunday in Wisconsin.